Google's Eric Schmidt Admits Social Media Fail

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Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt admitted that missing out on social media was the "biggest mistake" he made in his 10-year reign as the tech titan's chief executive, according to reports.

“In our defense, we were busy working on many other things but we should have been in that area and I take responsibility for that,” Schmidt told Bloomberg News.

Schmidt was Google's chief executive from 2001 to 2011 when he stepped down to become executive chairman, and current CEO and founder Larry Page ascended to the position. Despite being at the center of Silicon Valley, Schmidt and Google seemed to ignore Facebook's growing popularity. However, by 2009, it became apparent that social media couldn't be ignored and Google launched Google+ in 2011.

Google said in October it had about 300 million users who visit Google+ for friends' content, while total monthly users are estimated at 540 million, according to Bloomberg News.

Schmidt also said that 2014 would be all about mobile computing and use, which was not exactly going out on a limb. He could have easily said that about 2012 and 2013, too. In short, it's not really surprising that Schmidt didn't see the rise of social media coming, if he can only see changes two to three years after they have already taken place.